


Hungry Ghosts

by DJ_Rocca_87



Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hiiro is sick of everyone, Kiriya is a hedonist, Kiriya is also a little shit, M/M, Multi, Taiga needs therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:54:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27868741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DJ_Rocca_87/pseuds/DJ_Rocca_87
Summary: Moving on is harder than they thought possible. Hungry ghosts continue to haunt them and no sin will go unpunished.
Relationships: Hanaya Taiga & Kujou Kiriya, Hanaya Taiga/Saiba Nico, Kujou Kiriya & Saiba Nico, Kujou Kiriya/OMC
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	Hungry Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> This story will contain sexual content, it will be clearly stated here if the chapter does. It will also contain original characters.
> 
> This has not been beta’d and my first fanfic in almost 5 years. I hope it’s ok. Also I want to say the standard legal, I don’t own anything disclaimer except the 4 new male characters.
> 
> Chapter One Rating: R (some sensual content, nothing descriptive)

With an exhausted huff, Taiga plopped back down into his chair. It gave an unsettling crack with age and abuse. Testing its limits, he leaned back, it didn’t immediately snap so he remained inclined. On the toolbar of his monitor, there were 5 new message alerts. Reaching out, he moved his mouse over and clicked. Two messages from Hiiro, One from Emu, One from Kiriya and one from Nico. 

_Nico._

He would never express aloud how much he missed her. His feelings for her were more complicated than he had time for. Or that’s what he told himself at least. But for now Dan was dead and they had brought Kiriya back to life. A human. The technology was still so new, they were waiting to study him before they brought anyone else back. They did not want to bring everyone back to have something terrible happen to them all. To be fair, he didn’t want anything to happen to Kiriya either. The corner was...everything he used to be. 

Clicking on the message from Hiiro, they were all business. One was on a patient they had both consulted-he had gone to Taiga first then Hiiro, who had concluded the same diagnosis. The second was one checking on his health, since he refused to go in for a cardiac follow up. The next was Emu, also checking up on him. Kiriya’s was simple. One word, drinks?

Then he clicked on the one from Nico. There was no message, just a video attachment. He clicked on it. He caught a glimpse of her, no flesh was exposed but it was clear she was touching herself. On instinct, he immediately pulled the cord on his monitor in lieu of just turning it off or closing the video. His heart was pounding and he swallowed hard and he’d be damned that he broke into a sweat. 

For the last 8 years, he had been living to die. He didn’t expect to live, didn’t expect any form of redemption. He just wanted his vengeance and to save those he could. He pushed everyone away, Nico included, until she left. She had an out and he made himself so insufferable that she had no choice. He knew it didn’t stop her feelings, this video was proof of that. As was her making sure GenmCorp kept him in gashats when he needed them. Had it not been for her, he wouldn’t have brought back Maki. Granted he was a bugster but there was hope.

Suddenly Kiriya’s email came to mind and he grabbed his phone. He texted the man and told him what bar to find him at. Heading there, he sat down and immediately ordered three drinks and pounded them back. He was about to do something he hadn’t done before.

Ask for help about his lovelife...or lack thereof.

A sudden strong hand dropped onto his shoulder and he looked up. Kiriya was grinning down at him. He nodded to the drinks, wide smile. 

“Starting without me?” 

Kiriya signaled to the bartender to get him the same, plus two more for each of them. “Rough day?” he asked.

With a steady inhale, Taiga closed his eyes. “I need to talk to you about Nico.” 

“Ooooooooo!” 

Taiga pounded back one more drink before he confessed. “Nico sent me a video. She was...having a moment. She was completely dressed and covered, you could see nothing but you knew what was happening.” 

“Dude, why are you here with me? Go enjoy it! Better yet, video chat!” he insisted. 

The former radiologist shook his head. “It’s not that simple.” 

“I get it, I get it,” Kiriya insisted. “You need to live. You have feelings for her. Act on them.” 

One more drink put Taiga over the edge and he confessed something he never thought he’d say to anyone, let alone Kiriya. But he felt safe from his judgement and prepared for his laughter. 

“I haven’t even…” he made a vaguage gesture to himself. “Since everything happened.” 

“That was 8 years ago.” 

“I know.” 

Kiriya did not laugh, in fact he looked at him with an unreadable look. Probably because Taiga was bad at most emotions. “Live. Take it from someone who literally died...twice. I am living life to its fullest because who knows when I’ll die again. In our line of work, it could be next week.” he stated sipping his drink. 

“How do you even cope with that?” Taiga asked. 

Kiriya flashed a small smile. “I don’t like to think about it. I won’t tell you what it’s like, it's not for the living to know.” He took a longer drink. “It’s why I’m being as hedonistic as possible.”

Taiga chuckled. “They must hate that.” 

“Oh we do,” came a voice.

There was a tall, lithe man in a black suit and silver wire framed glasses that hid his doe eyes. His dark hair was slicked back and he wore almost no expression on his face. 

“Here’s my drug dealer,” Kiriya chirped with a wink, Taiga could see he was just trying to get a rise out of the man.

“Pharmacist. Umemoto Hideo” 

“And so professional,” the teasing continued. “I like you better in street clothes.” his voice was a purr. Taiga watched as a couple girls whipped around at the tone he took and watched him closely. Then with a few signals, another drink landed in front of Kiriya. He whirled in his chair and took a sip then wiggled the glass at them. He turned back and grinned. “You have to live, Taiga. Go do it.” Leaning over he pushed the man towards the exit, slapping him on the ass as he did. 

Taiga shot him a wide eyed look and was rewarded with a kissy face. Hiding a chuckle, he walked towards the door, knowing the only male who could get away with that was Kiriya. He glanced back one more time to see the girls practically on top of him while his Pharmacist looked annoyed. Taiga was about to leave when Kiriya’s actions made him duck around a corner and observe.

The Pharmacist was asking him questions and checking his pulse, then produced an object in his hand. He inclined his head and he and Kiriya left the women, heading over to a couch. As the pair sat down, Taiga was alarmed to see the man pull a syringe then inject Kiriya with something. Kiriya closed his eyes, it was hard to tell if it was in agony or ecstasy. But all Taiga knew was that he shouldn’t have seen that. Given he hadn’t drank in ages, the overwhelming urge to be sick washed over him and he exited. He would leave Kiriya alone for now, he was an adult making his own choices but he would have words with him when they were both sober.

Going back to his hospital, he went to his computer and reattached the monitor. The video had obviously done playing and he sighed. Complicated was an easy word to describe his and Nico’s relationship but it didn’t come close to it. Now...what to do about her and the video. He couldn’t bring himself to video chat with her at the second. A call would do.

Hitting his favorites, he hit Nico’s number and listened to the monotonous ring. 

“Hellooooooooooooooooooo Taiga,” came a very playful voice.

Fuck. He knew he was in trouble…

…

The next morning, Taiga felt sicker than he had in ages. Partly from the alcohol and partly from the tension from the call with Nico. Flashbacks of her voice, so strong, so dominant, how he was finally brought to the edge that eluded him for so long. But only at her command, her permission. The bliss that he denied himself, she eventually gave him, he didn’t know what was better; his release or the breathy sound of her commanding him. His head was swimming.

Fuck...he ran to the bathroom, becoming ill. Once he had finished, he grabbed some water and found anything to fill his now empty stomach. As much as he was worried about his relationship with Nico and what last night had meant, the lines they crossed, he was more concerned about what was going on with Kiriya. What the hell had he seen?

Hitting Kiriya’s number, he was greeted with an all too chipper voice. It was too much for this time of morning, especially with a hangover.

“How are you not hung over?” Taiga just about snarled. 

Chuckling Kiriya shot back. “Oh, I am. But it's funnier to annoy you.” 

Taiga just sighed heavily. “Kiriya, what’s going on with you?”

Kiriya’s laughter stopped. “Oh.” there was a very pregnant pause. “What did you see?”

“Your Pharmacist friend giving you something. What’s going on?” 

“Can you keep a secret?” 

“Yeah.”

“So can I.” 

Taiga almost threw his phone. “And anything you could tell me may be a lie, correct?” 

“Got it in one.” 

“You’re infuriating, do you know that?” 

“I do and you love me for it. Goodbye Taiga, tell Nico I say hi, next time. I’ll be seeing you soon.” Kiriya’s voice was back to its playful flirty nature. 

Kiriya was damn lucky he was so damn charming. Taiga couldn’t deny that. With a sigh, he let his head fall back over the chair and closed his eyes. He had been hoping life could return to a form of normalcy now that he had been redeemed but no such luck. Either way, he made his choice and that was that.

Footsteps echoed through his empty halls and he sat up. Stepping out into the hall, he saw a smaller figure in the darkened hall. Even trying to hide, he knew that energy, that form. “Welcome home.” 

Nico groaned and dropped her hood. “I should have known you’d know it was me.” she groused. 

No dark, oversized wardrobe could hide Nico Siba. He smiled and she returned one in kind. Before he knew it, she was crashing into his arms and he was holding her tight. She buried her face into his chest and inhaled deeply. “Home.” she whispered and his eyes pricked with tears. Fuck, his emotions were unfamiliar and for a long while, unwelcome. But now, things were changing.

She looked up then playfully shoved him from her. She looked tired but joy radiated off of her. “When did you get in?” he asked, given she seemed to have been safe and sound in the US mere hours ago.

“Just landed. I was coming home and celebrating my leaving the United States which lead to that...video.” 

He cleared his throat. “Is something we can discuss later. Over dinner?”

Nico blinked up at him in surprise, face literally slack in shock, which was amusing. “Wha…”

“I-”

“Wooooooo! Am I interrupting something?” came Kiriya’s voice suddenly. They both jumped at their unexpected guest. “I told you you’d be seeing me soon, Taiga. NICO!!!”

“Kiriya!” 

He watched as Nico leapt into his arms like she was his long lost love. He had to admit, not a single urge of jealousy filled him. He knew how Nico felt about him, he had known for a long time. He just constantly pushed her away because he didn’t plan on living this long. He planned to sacrifice himself to atone for the sins that were not his. He was just a pawn in a long scheme. 

Now that it was mostly over, an arrant Bugster Virus popping up here and there, he wasn’t sure what to do with his life, outside of running his clinic. But reuniting with Nico would give him encouragement to keep living. Not that he expected to tie his entire existence to her and on her, like that fool Luke did. Though it was clearly emotional manipulation, he let her go with the gamer because he couldn’t see her in harm's way anymore. Not with the threat of their supposed God/Game Master haunting them. 

Koroto was gone. Officially. No more puppet strings on any of them. He snapped back to focus as Kiriya and Nico were busy flailing at one another. “Kiriya, did you have something we needed to discuss?” 

It was like a light bulb went off and the man in the loud print patterned shirt remembered. “Yes. I’m sorry Nico, I must hog Taiga for now. I promise you can have him later.” 

“We are going to dinner,” she informed him. 

Kiriya just beamed at them. “I’m so proud to know you two are finally going on a date.”

Instinctually Taiga wanted to argue it wasn’t a date, and with the look on Nico’s face, she seemed to expect him to. But no. Instead he just smiled gently at her. She blushed and smiled. 

“Dress nice for me, Taiga. I expect the best.” She told him and whirled on her heel and walked out of his hospital. 

Kiriya let out a noise that could be compared to a squeal and giddily slapped Taiga on the back. “What did I interrupt?” 

Taiga sighed. “If I tell you, will you tell me what’s going on?” 

“Maybeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.” 

Rolling his eyes, Taiga gestured for Kiriya to follow him into his office. The coroner dropped down onto Taiga’s cot and it creaked dangerously. “Dude, get a bed.” 

Taiga rolled his eyes again. “I’m going to take Nico out for dinner and talk like two rational adults.” 

“Yay!” 

“Now talk.” 

“I am talking.” 

“Oh, my God. Kiriya.” 

Kiriya slowly sombered up and looked at him dead in the eye. “There’s been complications of my resurrection. I can’t get into specifics right now but I will when we get a more definitive answer.” 

“Have you talked to Hiiro or Emu or anyone at CR?” 

“No. We are trying to keep this internal at Regenerative Medicine right now.” 

Taiga stared down at him. “Are you dying?” 

It was eerie to see such an expression on Kiriya’s face as he said. “Sometimes I wish I was. And I say that having died twice.”

“Are you in pain?” 

“Its...it’s harder to explain than I can tell you. It’s why I have Hideo at my beck and call.” 

“What is he giving you?” Taiga asked, arms across his chest. The revelation was honestly a surprise. He would have to go investigate at Regenerative Medicine himself, knowing that Kiriya wouldn’t be telling him the whole story. 

Kiriya shrugged. “Some of this, some of that. He’s funner off the clock, I’ll tell you that. Drive me wild because he doesn’t play nice.” he added with a wiggle of his brow. “Won’t completely fraternize because I’m a patient. Even in downtime. You know how that is.” 

“You know I’m going to investigate further, right?” 

“I do. If you see Hideo, put in a good word for me.” Kiriya laughed, standing. “Nico looks good. I think she missed being home.” 

The thought of her breathing the word home into his chest overwhelmed Taiga. He had no idea how much he missed her until she had walked out the door again. Perhaps sealing off one's emotions for almost 10 years was more damaging than he realized. But there was nothing he could do about that now.

Donning his lab coat, Taiga followed Kiriya from his hospital, locking the doors behind him. Hanging a crude “out to lunch sign” and headed into the city. 

\---

To Be Continued?


End file.
